Seasons Greetings

Needless to say, I seem to have hit one of those patches where I could either do something or talk about doing something, but not both. One of my main goals going into 2014 is pretty much the same as it has been for the past two years: to use what I have, get rid of the rest, and use great care before bringing in any more. This here wreath is actually a good example of putting that plan into action. Last year, I set out to make a new wreath for the front door, but couldn’t settle on anything I really liked. Actually, I thought I was so clever: Instead of just making a pretty yarn wreath, I’d kick it up a notch by finger crocheting the yarn first to give the wreath more texture. Ooh!

And then I saw someone else had the same genius idea; it took the wind out of my sails a little. Yeah, that’s as childish as it sounds, but it’s true. Anyway, this year’s version was inspired by the tinsel wrapped one on Alisa Burke’s [a user-upper extraordinaire] wreath wall. Once I started wrapping the tinsel, though, I realized that I didn’t have enough — this piece was one that didn’t make the cut for going on the mantel — so I went ahead and dug up some chenille yarn to wrap the rest. The trees and star were cut off of the wreath we’ve been using for the past few years. I love the way it turned out, and it would have only taken a day to complete had I not waited an extra week to heat up the hot glue gun.

Heating up the hot glue gun is hard. Almost as hard as whipping up the cookies I started three days ago. We’re not talking plum pudding, here — this should not be taking three days!